Restaurant Point of Sale is Now Restaurant Point of Service

Traditionally, the restaurant POS system is where a customer makes a payment in exchange for goods or services. Payment terminals, touch screens, and a variety of other hardware and software options are used to enable the transaction.

Today, however, the restaurant point of sale is often referred to as the restaurant point of service, given that restaurant POS is no longer just about processing sales. Modern restaurant POS systems provide a platform that sits at the heart of any food and beverage operation, large or small, helping to enhance the customer experience and streamline business operations.

Every restaurant POS system allows food and beverage operators to process orders and maintain financial control of their business, through cash management and integration with payment service providers.

As margins get tighter in the food and beverage industry, successful operators need a restaurant POS to do much more. An integrated restaurant POS today will also offer:

The Importance of Restaurant POS Systems

Restaurant POS systems are essential to food and beverage operators that want to deliver a fantastic guest experience, keep control of their costs, and grow their revenues and overall profitability. The right restaurant POS should deliver the following to a food and beverage operator:

POS Feature

POS Benefit

The perfect guest experience

Every food and beverage operation is unique. At the same time, every guest has high expectations of the service that you will provide - or they won't return. The right restaurant POS will allow you to hone the perfect experience for your guests and keep your operation running smoothly to maximize satisfaction and repeat business. Combining mobile tablets with an intuitive restaurant POS interface, for example, will ensure that you achieve optimum speeds in quick service or fast casual enterprises.

Centralized control of menus and promotions

To deliver a great guest experience across a number of restaurants, you need to keep menus, prices and promotions consistent. To keep costs to down you also need to minimize the amount of work that is needed to add new menu items or promotions. With a centralized cloud-based restaurant POS, you can set up menu items or change prices once and then roll those out to all of your stores. You should also be able to maintain localized pricing and menus where appropriate.

Data to help you make money and save money

Your restaurant POS contains details of every transaction, which makes it the most important tool within your business. A good centralized Reporting and Analytics solution is essential in allowing you to get value from that data. Food waste, over-staffing, theft - these are all costs that can kill your business. By giving the right people access to the data, you can spot areas of loss and eliminate them.

Loyalty to maximize revenues

65% of US consumers are members of at least one food and beverage loyalty program. The right restaurant POS will provide a Gift and Loyalty solution that allows you to take advantage of the benefits of loyalty programs; increase visits, reward your customers, run targeted marketing promotions, personalize the guest experience and gather data on your guest preferences and behaviors.

New concepts and channels to increase revenues

As you grow, you may want to increase revenues by evolving from a table service operation and adding a deli or a take-out service. The right restaurant POS will allow you to do that.

Mobility

Technology is redefining service in hospitality and mobility is a huge part of that evolution. From providing staff with mobile tablets to take orders and speed up service times, to accepting mobile orders direct from guests, to allowing your managers to access mobile reporting on smartphones, your restaurant POS must be mobile.

Selecting the Right Restaurant POS System

Choosing the right restaurant POS system is critical to the smooth running of your restaurant. It pays to understand exactly what you do need, and what you don't need.

So how do you select the right one? The 2016 Smart Decision Guide to Restaurant Management and restaurant POS Systems provides the information you need to find the restaurant POS that suits your business. This research report, conducted by Starfleet and sponsored by Oracle Food and Beverage, provides a checklist to use when evaluating restaurant POS, a list of must-ask questions for vendors, a roadmap for buying decisions, and valuable insights from industry insiders and experts.

Deploying Cloud-Based Restaurant POS Systems

Until recently, restaurant POS systems were often managed on premises. On-premises solutions require a lot of upfront investment, including expensive computer servers to run the system, and they can also be costly to maintain on an ongoing basis; resources are needed to manage the POS software updates, upgrades, and security patches that need to be scheduled and installed manually by on site staff.

Faster innovation: With cloud-based restaurant POS, you can bring new properties online more quickly. Each new release brings new capabilities to help you deliver great customer experiences, improve operating efficiency, and increase employee productivity.

Lower IT complexity and costs: Cloud-based restaurant POS enables you to lower upfront capital expenditure on software and hardware. In addition, updates, upgrades, and patches are done automatically, reducing IT costs and complexity.

Increased security: Cloud restaurant POS from an organization like Oracle gives you the benefit of millions of dollars of investment in data security hardware and software, helping to protect your guests and your business from hackers.

Trends Influencing Restaurant POS

Cloud technology: the move to cloud is well underway for food and beverage operators. By moving to cloud, you can take advantage of all of the benefits of paying only for the technology that you use, while saving money by centralizing your administration and remaining innovative when new features and payment methods emerge.

Data security: in the digital age, security is more important than ever. Data breaches can have a devastating impact on food and beverage brands.

Data analytics: many operators are grappling with 'big data' and working out what to do with the vast amounts of information that they have. The successful food and beverage operators will be those who can access the right data in the right formats to identify ways of cutting costs and maximizing revenues.

Mobility: Mobile technology is redefining the way that service is delivered in food and beverage operations. From staff-facing tablets to guest-facing smartphone apps, operators need to provide the right services to accommodate changing guest expectations.

Restaurant Loyalty: The millennial generation expects a frictionless guest experience that is personalized without them knowing it. Loyalty programs offers a great insight into guest behaviour and preferences, allowing you to deliver better service and increase revenues.

Omnichannel: Consumers want to have choices when it comes to the way they order and pay for food and drinks. Brands need to consider the various third-party payment systems available and understand what their customers want.

Customer engagement: Using technology to engage with customers in innovative and unique ways is key for brands to stay ahead of the pack.